Six Thoughts on Maces and Clubs
They always say to train like a warrior, toughen up soldier, and treat every workout like it’s a battle, but does your workout actually have any of these? After wanting to branch out and develop new fitness skills, I bought myself a Mace for the first time, and fortunately, after doing so, I met Don from ADEX (seen below) who let me pick his brain extensively on using the mace, as well as the club, specifically his ADEX models, which professional relationship aside, I’m a huge fan of. While ADEX was my club and mace maker of choice, this article is about the methods themselves.
- Twenty Pounds will NOT feel like twenty F*cking pounds.
Standard mace and club weights usually range anywhere from 5–40 pounds, but don’t be surprised if you’re able to chuck up the big three-digit dumbells in the gym, but get absolutely humbled by one of these ten pound weapons of muscle mass construction.
Being strong by moving objects up and down is one thing…up, down, and over and around your head is a whole different ball game, and will put you in a different club itself (pun intended). Because of the principles of forces and levers, heavy objects held at a distance (Hint: like at the end of a long stick) feel even heavier. The amount of force you’d need to move a weight on a long lever is much greater. So whether it’s on the mace, or the mini version, the club, you’re forced to properly recruit the largest muscle groups in your body to whip these weapon like weights through the air. That being said, I repeat, heavy objects and long levers generate a LOT of force. Done improperly, that force could do some serious damage to your joints, so follow these guides to strengthen, not strain.
2.Done incorrectly, you CAN hurt yourself. Done correctly, you can become an apex predator.
Much like a kettle bell, both of these devices can be used to make sick flows and progressions that challenge every muscle in your body. The moves require both brute strength and masterful fluidity, so technique is essential. Fear not though, ADEX and other companies have many awesome tutorials online to help you change your fitness routine, safely and effectively. Clubs and Maces might be making some serious headway in the rehab and Physical Therapy arenas soon as well, for hip and shoulder rehab methods. If Don says he’s selling the equipment to them, it must be catching on.
The best flows challenge your hip and shoulder mobillity to the fullest extent, and done properly, can help you unlock real athletic power, which comes from getting these two muscle groups to work together as a team.
The halo is an awesome move, that if done properly, can help you get much better movement in your hips and shoulders. In this flow, it’s essential to gyrate from the hips to originate the movement, and transfer the weight back and forth between your lats and hips. The barbarian toss/squat is another solid example of this. If you’ve mastered the kettle bell swing, you’re ready to take a chance on these.
3. You can also think of it as an Unevenly weighted barbell too ( If you want to keep it simple)
While the flows are awesome, sometimes the simple moves do the trick. Using the mace like an uneven barbell brings a whole new training sensation to the traditional lifts as well. Because of leverage, and how all of the weight is distributed at the very tip of of end of the bar, while one limb in the move is pushing or pulling, the other would have to do the exact opposite to counter-balance it. Say you were bicep curling a mace…
The ONNIT academy trainer above would have to be curling mainly with the weighted arm, and counter-balancing with the other arm, almost as if he were extending his tricep. This counter-balance forces you to focus on proper technique, balance, and keeping time under tension. If you try to speed pump or cheat curl these kinds of exercises, you’re probably just going to look stupid, and potentially wack yourself in the face with that heavy mace head. Fortunately, no company has added spikes to their mace or club yet, though I think it would be a great incentive for proper technique.
(Warning: don’t use actual medieval weapons for exercise)
I personally like to use the clubs for a lot of different unilateral moves. A curl or uneven single arm shoulder press can help you find your optimal grip and position for the lift. These lifts can also help you develop dominant wrist strength and a crushing grip. Own the leverage, or the leverage will own you.
4. The Mace and Club lovers have their own competition too.
I don’t compete in the Vintage Strength Games, or Crossfit, or have an affiliation with the American Kettlebell Alliance, but if you’re intrigued, watch about some of the features above. They feature competitions of speed strength, AMRAPs, and other ways where you can get competitive with your mace or clubwork. Competition is one of the most fulfilling incentives for getting fit. From the competitions I have done, like college strongman contests and powerlifting meets, I can really say that your training will be ignited by the thought of somebody watching your performance the day of the event.Step out of your comfort zone, and give it a try.
5. This isn’t a new method of training, it’s a prized artifact of fitness that’s resurfacing. Grab your shovel, and raise this method from the dead
The Gada is the weapon of choice for Hindu god Hanuman, and you could probably bet he swung some ungodly weight when he trained….or godly weight? Either way, the Gada is one of the biggest training tools of the Indian soldiers, and may be one of the best choices you could make for looking like one. Some common conditioning moves can be seen in this awesome Art of Manliness video below, or the ADEX clubman channel, as well as Onnit, and many other awesome resources online.
6. Different Brands have different styles, find your preference of design.
I personally bought both the ADEX adjustable mace and club, as for economic purposes, the cost of getting adjustable weights all on one unit felt better financially. The ADEX mace and club have thinner handles than other pieces of equipment, like the Apollo steel mace I started with, which is similar to the mace seen in the video above (the Onnit mace). I like this thinner handle better personally, because I felt that having to deal with a thicker handle can limit your abillity to perform certain flows and movements with the device, which is the real magic of the method.
That being said, a thicker grip of course would challenge your forearm muscles much harder, but possibly at the expense of more intricate, fluid movement, though the Hindu
Onnit also makes maces, some with a wood handle, which may be a preference for some. The shape of the head can also be a factor as well. The ADEX features a cylindrical weight on the head, while many of Onnit’s are round, which can give you a few different movement varieties, but at the expense of…well, expenses, due to having to spend money for every different piece of weight. That’s going to get expensive as you slowly but surely get strong as f*ck.
If you’re interested in starting to train with this equipment, try to figure out what features of them you value, and decide for yourself!
For more fitness tips, tricks, and discussions, follow me on social media like Twitter and Instagram @davidk_fitness.
